ERP from the cloud

A recent study by the market analysis and consulting firm Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) provides information on the phenomenon. For the representative survey, 100 CIOs, CTOs and IT managers as well as managing directors from American companies with at least 20 employees from different sectors were interviewed. The sample consisted of approximately equal parts of companies with up to 249, from 250 to 999 as well as over 1000 employees.


Multiple benefits ...


According to this, every fifth American company uses or plans ERP from the cloud, and every third company discusses its use. While the private cloud for ERP applications is already being used or planned in almost every third company, the public cloud for ERP is still a niche.


And central barriers


Nevertheless, more than 70 percent of American companies expect ERP to become established from the public cloud in the long term - both in small and large companies. With this concept, they primarily combine added value with regard to a simpler connection of international locations, better cost structures (fees instead of investments) and less IT complexity when using ERP. The biggest advantages for IT are the ease of administration, scalability and support for mobile devices.


The cloud comes slowly but surely


According to the PAC study, however, the main obstacle to the public cloud is not resistance from the IT department, but still unclear conditions, such as the uncertain legal situation and the fear of becoming dependent on a provider. Thus, the return of the data when the provisioning model is changed is an important question, which must be answered by the provider side. Another obstacle in the public-cloud utilization of ERP solutions are security concerns. There is still a lot of information to be done by the providers.


Conclusion


The added value of the public cloud will be seen, but the barriers and disadvantages seem to still be outweighed. For example, companies currently prefer the private cloud model, in which the central concerns about the security and legal situation of the public cloud are not so great. For the majority, the public-cloud variant is therefore not an option today.


Providers have limited influence on the legal situation themselves, but can counteract the concerns by providing solutions through a certified data center in accordance with EU directives. In addition, users expect support with defined Service Level Agreements (SLA), migration support and a German-speaking contact person. If these conditions are met satisfactorily, an increase in the use of ERP from the cloud can be expected, according to the analysts' conclusions.


The results of the study confirm the fact that location-based ERP systems are increasingly being replaced by cloud systems, "says Thomas Rosenstiel, Director Europe at Plex Systems." Plex Systems distributes its ERP software Plex Online exclusively as a cloud system with one Clear focus on the manufacturing industry. This is a true multi-tenant solution: All users work on one system, but each of our customers uses a customized environment. The architecture meets the highest security and stability requirements.


And Michael Mors, Managing Director of UNIT4 Business Software GmbH, explains: "The study demonstrates what we see as a provider of ERP solutions on a daily basis: More and more companies are moving core systems into the cloud, only in the public

Sector we still see some restraint. For us, the protection of the data entrusted therefore has top priority. The flexibility - even when it comes to the way back from the cloud - and the high scalability of our ERP solutions from the cloud offer dynamic companies such a tremendous potential that we expect a growing use of ERP from the cloud >

"As the study shows, American companies consider the concept of ERP from the public cloud as relevant to complement or replace existing business applications," said Frank Niemann, Principal Consultant Software & SaaS Markets at PAC.


Because of the added value of this concept, companies should deal with the possibilities of ERP from the public cloud in any case. The complete study "ERP from the cloud: barriers, challenges and deployment of SaaS ERP in the United States" is available at http://bit.ly/PAC_MC_ERP_Cloud_2013 Download